K2TOG

Tuesdays are turning out to be my favorite day of the week. Actually, Tuesdays were always up there because it's my knitting night. But now, the daytime hours are gaining ground because it's the day I knit with the women at the New Hope House.

I participated and completed the training program with the New Hope Domestic Violence Agency of North Attleboro earlier this spring, and started volunteering at the shelter about a month ago. I thought I was going to do Pilates with the women, because that's what I do for work. But, I wanted to try something new, so I decided to knit with them. Now, I am not a knitting teacher. I know knitting teachers. I have great teachers at In the Loop. What I've come to know is that I can pick up some of the best tips during Sit and Knit, when we're all just sitting around the table with no official teacher. We just share what we're doing and I've learned a ton around that table. My plan was to get them started with knitting and purling, start with a simple dishcloth pattern, and then let the real learning begin.

I committed to 10-11 on Tuesday mornings, figuring I couldn't get into too much trouble in an hour. I bought some cotton yarn, a few sets of needles, and off I went. There were 5 women that first day, different in just about every way women can: age, color, language, etc.  By the end of that first hour, I'd figured out how to "teach" each one according to her needs, and they'd figured out casting on and the knit stitch. Their homework: just keeping knitting until you either run out of yarn or run out of patience. In the case of the latter, frog it all and start again.  I floated home. It was THE BEST hour I'd spent in a long time.

Three weeks later, we're still knitting dishcloths, but as practice for learning new techniques. We've SSK'd, PSSO'd, cabled and cast off. They're working on afghans now and chomping at the bit to start scarves and sweaters. One woman is absolutely begging me to knit a dress! Each week, the time we spend around the table gets a little bit longer and I've set 3 hours as my limit although I could probably stay all day if they'd let me.

My mother taught me to knit and I made dishcloths until they were coming out of my ears. The first time I came into the shop and told Cheryl I wanted to try something a little more adventurous, she couldn't have been more generous with her time or her spirit. Her welcoming energy was infectious, and it wasn't long before I started spending the grocery money on yarn rather than food for my family.  (Screw 'em.) Ellen probably doesn't remember helping me pull out a scarf I was making (badly) with a Tilli Tomas yarn. It had tiny beads in it, so pulling it out was a total pain in the ass. She sat at the table with me and went row by row until we'd frogged it all and rewound the whole thing.  Soon, I joined a class, came to the sit and knits, and fell in love. And it is my absolute privilege to pay it forward with these amazing women on their journey to rebuild their lives.

But of all the best lessons I've learned around the table either at the shop or the House, it is always what happens when we K2TOG. Whether people, a broken heart, or knitting it is always better, stronger together.